Question about song; I would do anything but that

This is a discussion on Question about song; I would do anything but that within the Off Topic & Humor Discussion forums, part of the The Back Porch category; Originally Posted by Bigkahuna
Damn, you guys make me feel old!
You took the words right out of my mouth.... : )...

That song is just another example of the genius of Jim Steinman. He wrote both Bat out of Hell and Bat out of Hell II. Meat Loaf is a fantastic singer without a doubt, but all of his big hits were the result of their collaberation. IIRC part of the problem between them (and the reason for that long delay between albums) was that Steinman did not believe he was getting the credit he was due.
He also wrote and produced "Total Eclipse Of The Heart" for Bonnie Tyler, "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All" for Air Supply, a couple of songs for the movie "Streets of Fire", "It's All Coming Back To Me Now" for I forget who but was redone by Celine Dione.
His style makes me think of a cross between Phil Spector's wall of sound and the operatic stylings of Queen. I think Jim Steinman and Meat Loaf are a perfect musical match.

His real, legal, name is.... Meat Loaf. His birth name is Marvin something. If I met him, I would call him Mr. Loaf - he and I aren't pals, after all.

Steinman, ESPECIALLY on BOoH2, is a bombastic, pompous, verbose d-bag. Now ask me what I really think of him. All of his song TITLES are twenty words long, and most of them make me cringe. Anyone that would write a ten minute song entitled "Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer than They Are" should be shot on general principle, and shot a hundred more times because that title, as horrible as it is on its face, is 100% wrong; objects in rear view mirrors may, in fact, BE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR.

I'm old enough to remember BOoH, and even at six I knew it was it was trite, contrived, and downright silly. I will admit that some of the tunes are catchy, but holy Steven Patrick Morrissey are they DUMB. BOoH2 was just...too much.

But to answer the question, Wiki says this:

Perceived ambiguity of "that"

Each verse mentions two things that he would do for love, followed by one thing that he will not do. The title phrase repetition reasserts that he "won't do that" previously stated one thing. Each mention of "that" is a reference to the particular promise that he made earlier in the same verse.[7] For example, one such line is "But I'll never forget the way you feel right now ..."[7] The four things he says he will never do are:

* forget the way you feel right now
* forgive myself if we don't go all the way tonight
* do it better than I do it with you, so long
* stop dreaming of you every night of my life

In addition, at the song's conclusion, the female vocalist predicts two other things that he will do: "You'll see that it's time to move on" and "You'll be screwing around". To both of these, he emphatically responds, "I won't do that!"

A man fires a rifle for many years, and he goes to war. And afterward he turns the rifle in at the armory, and he believes he's finished with the rifle. But no matter what else he might do with his hands - love a woman, build a house, change his son's diaper - his hands remember the rifle.

His birth name was Marvin Lee Aday. VH1 used to have a show called popup videos, and these little bubbles of text would apppear during videos with various facts in them. The video for "I would do anything for love" had a popup with his birth name and info in it.

Steinman, ESPECIALLY on BOoH2, is a bombastic, pompous, verbose d-bag. Now ask me what I really think of him. All of his song TITLES are twenty words long, and most of them make me cringe. Anyone that would write a ten minute song entitled "Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer than They Are" should be shot on general principle, and shot a hundred more times because that title, as horrible as it is on its face, is 100% wrong; objects in rear view mirrors may, in fact, BE CLOSER THAN THEY APPEAR.

Always so literal? Now I wont argue that he is a prima donna, but I like his stuff and the sales speak for themselves. And the reason the "Objects in the Rear View Mirror May Appear Closer than They Are" is that these objects are significant life events in the "rear view mirror" of his memory. Things that seem like they happened just yesterday but in fact occurred years of decades in the past.